Tari N. Ramirez sought in killing of ex-girlfriend, Claire Tempongko, in Richmond District

Tari N. Ramirez sought in killing of ex-girlfriend, Claire Tempongko, in Richmond District

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Claire Tempongko

Claire Tempongko

Photo: B

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Tari Ramirez.
Wanted for Homicide. Considered armed and dangerous

Tari Ramirez.
Wanted for Homicide. Considered armed and dangerous

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16 to life in S.F. slaying by woman's abuser

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Likening his violent, remorseless behavior to that of an animal, a San Francisco judge imposed a sentence of 16 years to life Friday on the man who in 2000 committed a murder that revealed serious flaws in the city's domestic violence prevention efforts.

"Your behavior lowered yourself to the level of the animal - without emotions human beings are supposed to have," Superior Court Judge Robert Dondero told Tari Ramirez, 35, who was convicted earlier this year of second-degree murder in the slaying on Oct. 22, 2000 of Claire Tempongko.

Ramirez stabbed Tempongko, 28, repeatedly inside her Richmond District apartment in front of her children, who were then 10 and 5 years old. He testified that he had acted out of rage after she told him she had aborted their child.

Ramirez had been arrested repeatedly for domestic violence before killing Tempongko and spent four months in jail for abusing her in 1999.

Dondero said he agreed with the jury that convicted Ramirez of murder in September and rejected his testimony that his attacks on Tempongko before the slaying were part of the "ups and downs" of a relationship.

"No human relationship could ever be described as having 'ups and downs' when it involves domestic violence," Dondero said.

Before the judge imposed the maximum sentence for second-degree murder, several family members spoke to the court and to Ramirez, who appeared impassive.

Tempongko's mother, Clara, said the family had been devastated by the loss of a "happy spirit" who was always concerned for others. She said she had become so depressed over her daughter's murder that she almost lost her mind.

"Why did this have to happen to her? ... Why not me?" she said.

She said she had begged Ramirez to stop his attacks on her daughter before the killing and treat her with respect, to no avail.

Prosecutor Liz Aguilar-Tarchi addressed Ramirez as well, saying, "I have been a prosecutor for 21 years and I have never prosecuted such a coward."

She added, "When you took the stand on your own behalf, you showed absolutely no remorse or guilt for your dirty deed."

After Tempongko's relatives spoke, Ramirez addressed the family and the judge, reading a matter-of-fact apology in which he said he regretted the killing.

Following the sentencing, Clara Tempongko thanked the prosecutor, family and advocates for victims of domestic violence. "At long last, we made it," she said.

Prosecutors depicted Ramirez as jealously tormenting Tempongko with repeated phone calls, stalking her and finally stabbing her. Ramirez was arrested in Mexico in 2006 and was extradited to the city last year.

A month before her death, Tempongko lodged two police reports against him. In the first, police summoned to her apartment on 22nd Avenue found her bleeding from the mouth.

She told officers that Ramirez had tried to choke her and jam his hands down her throat when she came home late. Ramirez was gone when officers got there.

Police, however, never tracked him to serve him with an emergency order barring him from contacting Tempongko. They said they had referred the matter to probation officials, who said they had never received a referral.

A report issued by the city attorney's office in 2002 concluded that "the most striking factor is how ineffectively the three main criminal justice departments (police, district attorney and probation departments) appeared to work together in this case."

Tempongko's family sued the city in 2001, charging that police inaction amounted to discrimination against domestic violence victims and essentially led to her death. The city settled the case in 2004 for $500,000.

District Attorney Kamala Harris, who took office more than three years after the slaying, said after Friday's sentencing that most, if not all, of the problems exposed during the case have been resolved.